The day her twins leave home, Eva climbs into bed and stays there. For seventeen years she's wanted to yell at the world, 'Stop! I want to get off'. Finally, this is her chance. Predictably, a wife and mother isn't allowed to hide in plain sight without meeting some fairly fierce opposition. Who will cook Brian's dinners, or iron his shirts, or creosote the new fence? Who will keep remote tabs on their twins, mathematical prodigies whose asocial tendencies mean that they are unlikely to slip easily into the swim of college life? Completing the family tableau are Eva's mother Ruby and her mother-in-law Yvonne, neither of them particularly reliable sources of support; and Eva soon finds herself confronted with a mixture of outrage and puzzled disbelief.

Legions of fans, believing she is protesting, gather in the street. While Alexander the white van man brings tea, toast and sympathy. And from this odd but comforting place Eva begins to see both herself and the world very, very differently. . . Brian, her unfaithful husband, is upset. Who will cook his dinner? He says she is attention seeking, but word of Eva's defiance spreads. Her husband Brian, an astronomer having an unsatisfactory affair, is upset. Who will cook his dinner? Eva, he complains, is attention seeking. But word of Eva's defiance spreads. verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ I don't like criticising Sue Townsend, who is the creator of Adrian Mole and some very funny plays, but she leaves me no choice.

Laugh-out-loud . . . a teeming world of characters whose foibles and misunderstandings provide glorious amusement. Something deeper and darker than comedy' Sunday Times

The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year" is a funny and touching novel about what happens when someone refuses to be the person everyone expects them to be. Sue Townsend, Britain's funniest writer for over three decades, has written a brilliant novel that hilariously deconstructs modern family life. With a teeming cast (and there are several more characters who come and go with a certain randomness) and an inviolable organising principle – Eva will not leave her bed, come what may – Townsend was unlikely to run short of comic opportunities. There is much here that her fans will recognise from Adrian Mole's various diaries and from her other books, which include flights of fancy involving lightly fictionalised politicians and the royal family: her perfectly pitched sense of the pathos and absurdity of suburban life; the way that she sends up her misfits and malcontents while simultaneously displaying great tenderness towards them; her understanding of the defences that people build to keep what threatens to overwhelm them at bay.

Retailers:

The day her children leave home, Eva climbs into bed and stays there. She's had enough - of her kids' carelessness, her husband's thoughtlessness and of the world's general indifference. Brian can't believe his wife is doing this. Who is going to make dinner? Taking it badly, he rings Eva's mother - but she's busy having her hair done. So he rings his mother - she isn't surprised. Eva, she says, is probably drunk. Let her sleep it off. But Eva won't budge. She makes new friends - Mark the window cleaner and Alexander, a very sexy handyman. She discovers Brian's been having an affair. And Eva realizes to her horror that everyone has been taking her for granted - including herself. Though Eva's refusal to behave like a dutiful wife and mother soon upsets everyone from medical authorities to her neighbours she insists on staying in bed. And from this odd but comforting place she begins to see both the world and herself very, very differently...